As Christian slowly came awake, he became aware of sounds within the apartment. He lay there listening for a few minutes before realizing it was Nicole moving around in the bathroom. A moment later, he heard the toilet flush and then soft footsteps moving down the hall, away from the bedroom.
He yawned and stretched, his thoughts drifting to the day ahead. He looked forward to getting to know Nicole more and found himself weighed down with a mix of emotions over how curious he actually was about her—more curious than he’d ever been about any other woman.
He didn’t want to get too close to another woman. He liked his freedom. He made no qualms about admitting he was a field player, and he liked it that way. It was fun, low-hassle, no-strings-attached. No commitments. No drama.
But after meeting his ex, he let himself get talked into settling down, mostly because he was “getting older” and it seemed like the thing to do. Oh, it wasn’t that he hadn’t cared for India. He liked her—liked her a lot, at first. But did he actually love her? In hindsight, it was probably more lust than love.
Nicole wasn’t as hot as India had been, but she was sexy in her own way. It was hard to compare the two because they were so different. India was younger, with jet-black hair and eyes. Nicole was an older brunette with red highlights and striking green eyes. India had straight hair and was fairly tall; Nicole had curly hair and was on the shorter side.
His marriage to India had actually been decent for the first six months. The sex was great, and India gave him space, which he needed. But over time, she started to turn—nagging more, wanting more, demanding more. And when he gave an inch, she’d take a damn mile.
Eventually, he snapped. He hadn’t planned on it, but it happened. And now he just had to stick to his story and hope for the best.
His unusual fondness for Nicole only made things more complicated. It would be bad enough if the truth ever came out under ordinary circumstances. But if something ever became of him and Nicole? Then keeping that truth buried would be absolutely critical. Nicole made the stakes higher—and he hated that.
But he couldn’t help how he felt. He wished he could reach into his brain and just switch off whatever it was he was feeling, but he couldn’t. Instead, he felt like running with it. Seeing where it might lead.
In the past, he’d always gravitated toward naive, flaky women—they were easier to manipulate. He could feed them whatever they wanted to hear and they’d lap it up, no questions asked. That let him have his cake and eat it too.
Nicole wasn’t like that. She was sharp-minded and independent. She’d be much harder to fool—not that he wanted to fool her. In fact, he liked her intelligence. Liked that she had her own way of thinking. She was unique, but normal—if that was even a thing—and something in him wanted to look out for her.
The more he liked someone, the more he respected their feelings, and he respected Nicole. He knew she might not feel the same way about him, and if she didn’t, he had to honor that. If she just wanted a safe place to stay until she figured out her life, then that’s what he’d give her.
After a few minutes, he finally got out of bed and went to join her in the kitchen.
She glanced at him as he entered and smiled. “Morning.”
“Morning,” he mumbled sleepily.
“Found the coffee and decided to make a pot. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all.”
“Want a cup?”
“Sure. Sleep well?”
Nicole nodded. “Yeah, surprisingly well. I must’ve really been out of it.”
As they sipped their coffee, they talked over their loose plans for the day.
“So, other than going to the grocery store,” Christian said, “we can just call it a lazy Sunday.”
“Well, not too lazy,” Nicole replied. “I still have to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. Do I take it just one day at a time or do I make plans? Like, real honest-to-god actual plans?”
Christian pondered that for a moment. “Well, what would you plan if you were going to make plans?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out for a while now.”
“Then just take it day by day.”
“Good advice,” Nicole said with a quick laugh.
Christian laughed too.
Then they were both laughing together.
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